Eumeralla, A War Requiem for Peace
On the 11th September 2024 I enjoyed a redeeming evening at the Sydney Opera House with the one only performance of Eumeralla, A War Requiem for Peace. I say redeeming because after the ‘No’ vote for a voice to parliament many people felt helpless at how our story could move forward. How wondeful to have people like Deborah Cheetham Fraillon to bring this story forward to the Opera House with a packed house, with the Dhungala Children’s choir, Choir from Conservatorium, Sydney Philharmonic Choir and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra for a night of standing ovation sand cheers and the peoples affitmation of bring our truth open for the healing to find a way forward for our beautiful countyr.
Deborah says:
“Just a little over four hours drive from Melbourne there is a battlefield haunted with the memory of war and loss of life. When you walk on this land, you are surrounded by restless warrior-spirits.
It is a powerful feeling and a fearful one. It is inescapable.
The name Eumeralla is unlikely to be among the theatres of war that you could name. The history of battles fought and the lives that were lost is almost unknown to anyone outside the Aboriginal community. It is more than 170 years since the last shots rang out in the country of the Gunditjmara but the land is not silent. The voices of those who lost their lives in defence of their country ring in your ears when you stand amongst the lava flows of south-west country Victoria. Unlike other theatres of war such as Anzac Cove and the Somme, where peace was declared and relationships restored with the Turks and Germans, no such peace was declared in the resistance wars, no such restoration.
Whilst the Gunditjmara uphold the memory of their warriors slain, most Australians have been denied access to this history and denied resolution – and so the land remains haunted.
I first walked on this battlefield in 2013. I felt it right away. I was moved and I was disturbed. Given the chance to camp on that land I could not sleep or find rest. The voices of those lost were so loud I couldn’t stay for more than one night. It woke something in me and my immediate response was music.
A song, A Requiem. A War Requiem.
It would be called Eumeralla and named in honour of one of the most brutal resistance wars fought on this continent. It would be sung entirely in the language of the Gunditjmara people and it is designed for non-Indigenous Australians to sing along-side Indigenous brothersand sisters. We need a way to ease the troubled spirit of the battlefields of the Eumeralla.
It is my hope that this song, this war requiem will help the spirits of those who fell – those who resisted and their aggressors, to find a lasting peace and that we their descendants might find our way to deeper understanding of the legacy of these battles. For you, for me, for all who were lost in a war Australia has yet to find a way to talk about. Eumeralla, a war requiem for peace will break the silence of so many decades and serve to amplify the importance of our nation’s shared history.
One day I hope to walk on that country and feel no restless spirit – just the strength of two thousand generations of lives lived and culture sustained.”
Deborah Cheetham Fraillon ao
When celebrated Yorta Yorta/Yuin soprano-composer Deborah Cheetham Fraillon visited Lake Condah in south-west Victoria, she was haunted by the voices of the Gunditjmara people who had lost their lives protecting their country.
Her immediate response was to write this powerful Requiem, to ease the troubled spirit of the land and to amplify the importance of our shared history.
Experience the colossal sound of Eumeralla in the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall in this milestone Sydney premiere. With a full symphony orchestra and massed choirs – including the voices of Dhungala Children’s Choir – and sung entirely in the ancient dialects of the Gunditjmara people, Cheetham Fraillon has created a musical work that is a compelling call for peace and reconciliation.
‘One day I hope to walk on that country and feel no restless spirit – just the strength of two thousand generations of lives lived and culture sustained.’ – Deborah Cheetham Fraillon.
Act 1: Pernmeyyal the great creator stands proud in the dreaming, surrounded by the creator beings he sent long ago to create the landscapes.
Act 2: Something has awakened the spirits, it is ominous and dark, a monster that has a hunger and breeds destruction.
Act 3: A call to arms, warriors stand at the ready, weapons at the ready to stand and protect all that sacred.
Act 4: The monster that is revealed as WAR is here, blowing uncontrollably like a wildfire through country, sweeping all comes before it.
Act 5: Spirits, high in the sky, watch as the Eumeralla turns blood red and the movement of the people across a sweeping landscape becomes evident.
Act 6: As Gunditjmara become victims of the monster their spark travels to Pirnmeyyal through the wetlands.
Act 7: The giant wetlands and stones created by Budj Bim become a fortress for the people, the creator’s body is providing protection.
Act 8: The monster rages on, its thirst for land and conquest is insatiable, leaving little trace of the peoples’ existence.
Act 9: But the people are stronger than that, evidence remains and people continue to live, they are stronger than first thought.
Act 10: Ancient fish trap channels, the lifeblood of the people, the water continues to hit the channels, the people continue to be there.
Act 11: The spirits of the fallen continue to walk, talk and dance the landscape, trapped in limbo.
Act 12: The stones continue to have a life force, etched by generations of Gunditjmara. Moving to escape the monster.
Act 13: Although the country has changed, the spirit and culture of place remains. It all looks different through a Gunditjmara cultural lens.
Act 14: Pernmeyyal awaits the spirits to come ‘home’.
Act 15: Spirits on the journey to the dreaming, streaming in flight. The cultural essence.
Act 16: This is ceremony, this is lore, this culture and this is US.
Act 17: We seem them, the spirits, when we look at the sky and see the stars. They are ‘home’.
Act 18: The Eumeralla continues to sing, the country has a story to tell, culture lives.
Act 19: The effect of the monster that is named war. A bloodstained landscape. The fighting Gunditjmara stood and protected defended, we know this and feel this as we are Gunditjmara.
About the Artist
This is a journey of inner reflection directed at the core of what it means to be Gunditjmara, a descendent of warriors, a direct descendent of the ‘Fighting Gunditjmara’.
I’ve captured it through the cultural lens that our culture demands, that my spirit as a Gunditjmara man demands. My own personal journey from a young boy being told the story, to a young man walking the battlegrounds to the man that now understands is captured here within
the artworks.
This is our story.
TomDay
Gunditjmara, Yorta Yorta and Wemba Wemba man and multi-disciplined artist
I was raised on this country, I’ve walked this country, I know this country. The presence of the old people reveals itself to me with songs being carried in the winds and I then interpret their story, our story. Eumeralla represents power, sings of our story and is at the heart of our identity.
It conveys the truth, however difficult, and tells of resilience and strength.
Tonight represents the visual telling of that truth, of that strength and of the people who endured it.
